According to the bible, Is fatalism valid?
The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.
After 4 votes and with 15 points ahead, the winner is...
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Pro made it clear that this was from a biblical perspective. Con did not meet the rules.
I will consider this almost a full forfeiture on behalf of con. Con did not provide a single argument and seemed to not understand what this debate was about. Pro provided several arguments from scripture to prove that the Bible can support fatalism. For example:
Ephesians 1:4-13
Romans 8:28-30 9:10-23
Colossians 1:12-23
1 Peter 1:2
2 Thessalonians 2:12-17
What this debate was sorely lacking was clarity. I feel Pro needs to make clear what the topic is actually about.
I'm awarding the argument point to Pro. Here are my reasons.
It was made very clear in the title that this debate was meant to be from a biblical perspective, so I will judge the argument accordingly.
Pro citied many biblical verse to support the claim of fatalism, These verses contained many instances of god imposing on will and demonstrated that God, does in fact know the future and can impose on us to achieve it.
Pro also put the verses into context towards the end of his opening, but I would have liked a more robust argument in general. Still, pro still meets the burden by rightly stating that god knows if we're going to hell. This was really the key point and this was support by pros sources. Even if everything else pro said was wrong, this fact wins the argument point.
Con argued in bad faith and did not make arguments that align with the bible. I am not against using logic in this case. However, the logic must assume that the bible is true because that is the premise of this debate.
Con creates a false dichotomy by saying that free will and fatalism cannot exist simultaneously. Since we are judging from the bible, the bible makes it clear this is possible because while god can see into the future, god IMPOSES on people's will, which Pro pointed out. In order to impose on a will, one must have a free will to be imposed on.
Con states god cannot know the future. this is an argument in bad faith. Con was not using the bible as context for this argument because the bible states this is clearly possible
Con argues that free will must exist in the bible, but this is only a good argument based on the false dichotomy that Con created.
Arguments in subsequent rounds were short and did little to add to the argument.
Ultimately, I Gave the point to Pro because Pro provide sufficient proof for me to believe beyond reasonable doubt. Speaking strictly in a biblical context. Con's loses the point because the only biblical argument made was for free will and this did not rebut Pro.
Con provided no sources and was lacking to the point of needing them. Pro provided robust sources. For example:
Ephesians 1:4-13
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship[b] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[c] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
11 In him we were also chosen,[d] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
Footnotes:
Ephesians 1:5 Or sight in love. 5 He
Ephesians 1:5 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture.
Ephesians 1:9 Or us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he
Ephesians 1:11 Or were made heirs
I used NIV version here just so people know.
This source clearly references free will in the beginning and at the same time says that you are "sealed" which if you read the context, means that god has already chosen your fate.
I award conduct point to Pro because of Con's excessive conduct violation. Con took the debate on bad faith knowing that the topic required an assumption of the bible. This essentially ruined Pro's debate and was not the reason that Pro started it. This misconduct was so bad that it brought the debate to a screeching halt in round 2 and I think it is in the nature of good conduct to accept the topic in order for both side to have fun in the debate.
Grammar and spelling tied.
I am not sure how to score this debate.
While the debate appear to be “according to the bible, is fatalism valid”. Yet pro appears to be arguing external to the bible, and whether the doctrine is misunderstood or disliked.
I’m that vein, I feel that pro clearly took down the notion of fatalism as valid that pro was trying to argue for in the opening round.
That being said, I view the resolution as king, and in the absence of descriptions, my initial reaction is that this was a debate about whether fatalism is a valid biblical belief- not a valid belief.
Saying this, when viewed as the resolution - I don’t think that pro provided warrant to support his position. Simply linking scripture on its own, without argument or context is not sufficient on its own to fulfill pros burden of proof.
As a result, I feel the only real way to come down on this is a tie.
Im not concerned with what other christians think. Also, you never find the concept of free will in the bible. There are many proofs throughout the bible of God overriding the free will of man. Nebuchadrezzar in the book of daniel is one.
the thing that makes understanding it hard is the that god outside of time fore knew and fore ordained all the would be, and he is consistently invovled in all of it, despite his timelessness.
Are you saying Adam and Eve did not bite the fruit with their own volition? If so, you are basically deconstructing Christianity with the revocation original sin. All of Christianity is grounded in the concepts of free will, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Christian who disagrees with that.
You cannot then logically argue for fatalism, whether scripturally supported or not. This dichotomy directly leads to delusional thinking, because the individual is forced to compartmentalize their conflicting beliefs; conflicting, meaning the coexistence of free will and fatalism.
Noted, I will be more clear next time and ill make sure to mention if im debating scripturally or not, I didn't consider that my title and thought would actually lead to this scenario!
I had a similar debate on DDO where I had the topic "If heaven is real, it's mostly filled with atheist" and my opponent immediately started off by denying heaven and god when I specifically placed those in the description as necessary presuppositions for the argument. so I can sympathize with you here.
Well, we might have opposite beliefs on just about every conceivable level. But I support your right to express them and I want to see arguments where opponents concede things when it's time to be conceded.
I could hug you! I know you don't necessarily believe what i do, But im grateful that you understood what i was trying to say, i was hoping for a scriptural debate instead of a logic debate. Im afraid im not proficient in logic to such a degree as i am with scripture.
can you prove the bible supports free will?
As @ram pointed out, showing the Bible contains "ABC" is useless. You can literally find anything in Biblical scripture to support a position; that was a point I immediately made. From that point, my argument extended into the logistics of it. You did a poor job of defining your terms and conditions. Just because you couldn't box me into a scripture-only debate, it does not mean my argument was invalid.
Yes, I understand that, but you're missing the point. I said fatalism was NOT valid, BECAUSE the Bible ALSO claims people have free will, and these two concepts cannot logically coexist. Therefore, any proclamation of fatalism is invalid.
BoP in debates such as this is normally shared you have to show your position is valid - and your opppnened has to also - with the winner decided primarily by who does the best in the face of your opponents argument.
As a result, you had a burden to show that according to the Bible, fatalism is valid: as I stated in my vote - I don’t feel that simply posting some scripture and stating “here are where the bible supports it” is sufficient on those grounds.
Vote Reported: Ramshutu // Mod Action: Not Removed
Reason for decision: This vote is sufficent
There was no need to provide arguement for or against it as no arguement was given by the contender, how can i argue what isn't contested? As to context, the scriptures are specifically about fatalism/predestination. Again, i stress the bible as a scholarly work and to be cited and treated as such. As no contest was given against the bible or the context, i feel i should have won the source and arguement vote. You can reduce my conduct vote if you feel i acted in error in reproving/not reproving the contender's assertion of the source not being logical.
Scripture is both authorized and a scholarly work. the bible didn't just exist. Ive cited references that are logical in nature to support fatalism. Interpretation is not the issue. Free will didn't even come into the picture, i was asking if fatalism is valid according to the bible.
You referenced some scripture, so what? Nothing about your argument required the use of scripture only for the debate. I agreed that both cases can be interpreted from scripture. The debate subject was "is it valid", and valid wasn't defined. Just because the scripture allows for fatalism and free will does not make it logically correct; that was my entire premise, and that is why it's not "valid".
The free will question i asked to killshot but forgot to mention him. sorry.
Who were you talking to about the free will part?
If it was me. I am not accepting God to be true until you prove it to me. The free will part is a non-issue. A meaningless topic to discuss. If you believe in the Biblical God there is no reason to dispute things in the Bible. If you aren't then yes there are reasons but it is a waste of time since non-Christians should stick to proving God's existence since giving that ground up is definitely a d*mb thing to do. If you really want to waste your time go right ahead and give up ground to a Christian. That part was not directed at you but to anyone who has stumbled upon this message. Have a nice day.
Im afraid you haven't won that one, you haven't disproved the notion of fatalism through scripture or logic. as for my opening statement i stated that freewill and fatalism/predeterminalism can go together.
Just because the word Bible is in the title, that does not immediately lock me into scriptural debate. I already agreed the Bible has references to basically everything. You should have put more time into your debate and explained what you meant by "valid". You also should have specified your expectations and debate terms.
It's not valid to say someone has free will and subject to fatalism.
its not the same, as im stressing the bible as source in the title.
im using the bible as a source of reference and the basis of the validity, even if you used valid as interpreted as logical, the bible works together with logic to show that it is logical in its appeal to principles.
No, that's the entire contention of my argument. The Bible proposes they both exist and I am saying it's logically impossible.
"Is fatalism valid, according to the Bible" is the same thing as "According to the Bible, is fatalism valid"
Valid can refer to many things, that's why I gave it a working definition, since you failed to lol
you read the title backwards and i think that misunderstanding affected your view of the debate.
also i have no idea where you got the definition of valid as "Logical" most dictionaries translate it as grounded or binding or sound.
Also, do you have any biblical verses that says free will cannot coexist with fatalism?
"Logic appertains to scripture as much as it does to human understanding"
Same as "spiritual" understanding. Shame that has little to no evidence existing. Oh well.
"you should have considered what i stated here that scripture is based on logical principals in exposing the metaphysical and spiritual."
Guess your logic must be really different to mine because if I don't know something exists like a "spirit" I would deem it illogical due to not being proven to exist.
Logic appertains to scripture as much as it does to human understanding, you should have considered what i stated here that scripture is based on logical principals in exposing the metaphysical and spiritual.
Wow.
Can't ground scripture in reality guess it would not be a battle of who made the best argument instead of who had the better feelings or whatever you call "spiritual revelation".
I am going to assume you can't defend it logically which is why you are removing that as a way to make an argument.
You weren't explicit on what you were arguing so you opened the door for a logical debate.
Unless! you incorporate the doctrine of scripture's principals as logical.
"I am totally "free willing" to change my mind, if @mel can provide a good logical argument."
Sucks that he didn't even use logic. OMEGALUL.
I won't be able to give a logical arguement as the concept of fatalism comes through spiritual revelation. If you want logic, then im undone. but if you want spirit and scriptural? we have a deal.
Hahahaha!!!
I am totally "free willing" to change my mind, if @mel can provide a good logical argument.
Why do you this to yourself?
I am sure you have a had a run in with melcharaz enough times that he is not capable of thinking his Religion is wrong.
Are you a masochists?
Do you like pain?
Answer me.
I know a debate is about who can bring the most convincing argument but I do also like debates to be that both members are willing to change their mind.
yep! :)
Is that the DDO Killshot?